Special Counsel Jack Smith says Mike Pence was among those who told former president to accept the 2020 election result.
A federal judge in the United States has made public new evidence against Donald Trump in an ongoing election subversion case in Washington, DC.
Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed a 165-page court filing on Wednesday that details the prosecution’s argument that Trump — in his final months as president — acted in a private capacity to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The filing is the latest effort by Special Counsel Jack Smith to illustrate how presidential immunity does not apply to Trump’s actions. It presents perhaps the most complete case yet of the 78-year-old’s efforts to cling to power as his term expired.
It also arrives barely a month before the 2024 election, as Trump seeks re-election once more.
In the filing, prosecutors allege Trump told members of his family: “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”
The brief also relays numerous interactions in which the former president was told repeatedly there was no evidence his 2020 election battle with Joe Biden was “rigged” or stolen through massive voter fraud, as Trump repeatedly claimed.
A reaction to the Supreme Court
A central part of the brief is the allegation Trump’s actions were carried out in his capacity as a private individual, rather than in an official role.
That was because, earlier this summer, the US Supreme Court ruled Trump had widespread immunity for his actions as president.
“The defendant asserts he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct,” says the filing.
“Not so. Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one.”
It adds: “Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted — a function in which the defendant, as President, had no official role.”
Family and advisers said no evidence of fraud
The 195-page document lists a number of occasions when advisers and staff warned Trump that, despite his assertions, there was no evidence of wrongdoing during the 2020 election.
According to the filing, three days before the 2020 election day, one adviser described Trump’s plan as: “He’s going to declare victory. That doesn’t mean he’s the winner, he’s just going to say he’s the winner.”
In another example, the brief explains that an adviser privately told Trump that he would be “unable to prove his false fraud allegations in court”. Trump allegedly replied, “The details don’t matter.”
Elsewhere, Trump is accused of knowingly amplifying false information about the election and urging his allies to “fight”.
Trump would echo those sentiments publicly when he spoke at a so-called “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021. There, he encouraged his supporters to make their feelings known at the US Capitol, located only a couple kilometres away.
Soon, the Capitol would be overrun by a mob, seeking to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College vote unfolding inside.
Mike Pence also advised Trump to accept result
The filing also contains instances of then-Vice President Mike Pence telling Trump there was no evidence of election fraud.
It says that, during a lunch in November 2020, Pence told Trump he should accept defeat and run again in the next presidential race.
“I don’t know,” Trump is reported to have replied. “2024 is so far off.”
Pence ultimately held a ceremonial role in certifying the Electoral College votes, which determine the US presidency. In the lead-up to January 6, however, Trump pressured Pence to stop the certification.
The brief argues that Trump’s attempts to intimidate Pence continued even while the Capitol was under attack.
“At 2.24pm, Trump was alone in his dining room, when he issued a Tweet attacking Pence and fuelling the ongoing riot,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
That social media post included the message: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!’”
‘A damning non-answer’
The election obstruction case contains four criminal charges, accusing Trump of conspiracies to obstruct congressional proceedings, defraud the US and interfere with Americans’ voting rights.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case. It is one of four criminal indictments he has faced since leaving office.
On Wednesday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung attacked the brief in a written statement, saying: “This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.”
Trump himself reposted Cheung’s statement on his Truth Social platform, adding in a separate post: “I didn’t rig the 2020 Election, they did!” He also blasted the timing of the brief’s release, so soon before the November election day.
Trump has continued to raise the spectre of election interference in his current campaign for re-election, reiterating false claims of widespread voter fraud. His claims have been echoed by his current running mate, Senator JD Vance.
During Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Vance was asked about comments he had made saying he would not have voted to certify Biden’s win in 2020.
When he tried to dodge the question, Democrat Tim Walz seized on the moment.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said. “I’m pretty shocked by this. He lost the election. This is not a debate. It’s not anything anywhere other than in Donald Trump’s world.”